Men's Track & Field

MIT Men's Track & Field Moves up to Place 5th at ECACs

Senior Patrick Marx

May 17, 2013

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – On the second and final day of competition at the ECAC Division III Championships at Springfield College on Friday afternoon, the MIT men's track and field team finished well, placing highly in a number of events. The Engineers wrapped up the weekend in fifth place with 40 points, moving up significantly from where they sat yesterday.

The first up for MIT was the 4x100 relay that finished in second place with a time of 41.66, the best time the quartet has raced this season. The relay, that was composed of junior Michael DuPlessis (Wantagh, N.Y.), freshman Michael Kaba (Jackson, N.J.), senior Josh Duncavage (Austin, Texas) and junior Tyler Singer-Clark (Falmouth, Mass.) finished six one-hundredths of a second behind Oneonta's relay and were just three one-hundredths of a second shy of breaking the MIT varsity record of 41.63 that has remained untouched for over two decades.

Junior Justin Bullock (Detroit, Mich.) finished 18th in the 1500m in 3:59.26, cutting over ten seconds off his time from last weekend's New England Outdoor Championships. Freshmen States Lee (Charlotte, N.C.) and Derek Barnes (Coto De Caza, Calif.) ran their signature event, the 400m, taking fourth and 11th place. Lee finished first for the Engineers with his time of 48.42, just narrowly missing his own MIT freshman record of 48.20, while Barnes followed soon after with 49.17.

Senior Patrick Marx (Grand Rapids, Minn.) and sophomore Samuel Parker (Menlo Park, Calif.) competed in the 800m, crossing the line in second and ninth place respectively. Marx ran a 1:52.17, coming in less than half a second behind the first place finisher from Keene State and cutting a few hundredths of a second off his seed time. Parker completed the event with a time of 1:53.76, which was just off the time with which he was entered. In the 400m Hurdles, Kaba came in fifth place in 53.10, while classmate Adrian Samsel (Whippany, N.J.) finished with a 55.10.

Singer-Clark returned to the top in the 200m, running a time of 21.37 to take the win and improving on his season-best time from the New England Division III Championships by three-tenths of a second. He also broke the previous MIT varsity record of 21.53 that had been the mark to beat since 2005.

Next up for MIT is the 2013 NCAA Division III Championships, the final meet of the outdoor season, which will be held at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse from Thursday through Saturday, May 23-25. The full entry list for NCAAs will be announced at the end of the weekend. The Engineers will look to improve on their performance at last year's championships, where they tied for 68th place.